The Viral Hero
by BuzzKillBro
Summary: Heller has lost everything he had due to Alex Mercer and to time itself since he has stopped aging. Will the galaxy learn of his state of being and reject him, or will they know him as a hero?
1. Chapter 1

The Viral Hero

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Prototype or Mass Effect.**

 **I noticed that with the prototype crossovers there were not a whole lot of them that featured James Heller as the main crossover character from prototype and I really like him so I'm going to make a crossover with him in Mass Effect.**

 **Heller's Abilities: All of Heller's abilities are maxed out as far as they could go in prototype 2**

 **Shape Shifting**

 **Whip Fist**

 **Hammerfists**

 **Muscle Mass ( because he ate Alex Mercer at the end of prototype 2)**

 **Tendrils**

 **Shield arms**

 **Super human speed and agility**

 **Can fly ( I'm implementing the optional ability you unlock that allows you to glide forever sense it's more fun and it would at least make a little bit of logical sense for him to be able to do that. In the game it's a force multiplier called "Air Time")**

 **Super Human endurance and regeneration**

 **Super Human Sense/ Viral Sense**

 **Super Human Strength**

 **Biobomb**

 **Blade**

 **Claws**

 **Pack Leader**

 **Mercer Bullet Dive ( A no powers equipped ground slam starting in the air)**

 **And the devastator (I think that's what it's called. Heller sends out an explosion of tendrils from his body to destroy everything around him.)**

 **Armor form (basically incased in the same type of viral configuration all around his body).**

 **I hope that you enjoy the story**

Chapter 1: Prologue

Dana:" What do we do now?"

Dana overlooks the desolate and empty city of New York while James Heller holds Maya Heller in his arms tightly.

James:" There is nothing left for us here. I'd rather find another place to raise Maya than this hell hole!"

Maya:" Where would we go dad?"

James:" I don't know Maya, but we need to find a new home. Somewhere where I can raise you as a father should."

Dana:" I Don't have a home either. Do you mind if I tag along?"

James:" No I don't mind. You helped me get my daughter back so you are more than welcome to join."

Dana:" Thanks, that means a lot."

James:" We should probably get a car to drive out of here since I don't think I'm the safest mode of transportation, but I think I destroyed most of them."

Dana:" We should probably head to ground level then and search for one with a full tank of gas."

Dana and Maya when to the stairs of the building they were on **(They did not trust the elevator since the building they were on had some significant structural damage)** while Heller simply jumped off the side of the building and made a huge crater in the concrete when he landed on the ground level street. Once everyone had made it to street level, they began to search the area for a vehicle that still worked.

It took them a couple of hours of walking through ruble filled streets for them to find a four occupant car that still worked. It was about 5 blocks away from the building they descended. They got into the car and drove, with a bit of difficulty due to the roads being fucked all to hell, out of New York City.

 **These details with the prologues can be tedious and sometimes boring so I will try to summarize what happens for your convenience.**

Dana, Maya, and James eventually found a place to live in Pennsylvania (on the side of a small mountain that overlooked a tree filled valley. Dana lived as a roommate to Heller and a sort of proxy mother to Maya. They spent many contented years there (thankful that no more of that crazy shit with blacklight and Mercer followed them or seemed to be known by anyone).

What James, Heller, and Dana didn't know is that the coronel that was in-charge of the blacklight operation in New York City decided to erase the records on James and Maya Heller so that no one who was not there to witness the events that took place in New York City would know about him or his daughter. He did this in a way to be thankful that James spared him and listened to his request to leave the city.

Eventually Maya was old enough to live on her own and when she did move out of the house; Dana decided to find her own place as well. James was left to live by himself, but he would occasionally go visit his daughter.

90 years later:

New York City has finally gotten back on its feet after 50 years of reconstruction, though the records of James Heller and his transformation were erased and all those who may know of Heller were either dead for certain reasons or were knocking on death's door. James Heller looked exactly the same as he did 90 years ago since he was technically no longer a human and could not age. His daughter was still as human as could be so she aged and grew old. James and Maya were at the hospital when Dana passed away 15 years ago due to natural causes. And now it was Maya's turn to pass on. James held the hand of his daughter for the last time. He listened as Maya drew her last breath and exhaled. He saw her face become still, her chest stop moving, and the heart monitor flat line. Heller had been so very proud of his daughter and loved her dearly since she was the only family he had left. The doctors and nurses in the room removed their surgical hats and masks and placed them over their hearts in a sign of respect. A male doctor with brown hair placed his right hand over Heller's left shoulder **(He thought that Heller was Maya's son or grandson based on how old James looked but he was in fact her father** ). Heller was holding his daughter and weeping profusely without a sound.

A month later:

" **Mad World by Gary Jules plays"**

Heller was burying his own daughter next to the graves of his wife, even though he never recovered her body, and Dana Mercer. He placed an assortment of roses on the graves. On his daughter's grave James placed a model of a roller coaster.

James bowed his head in a prayer stance: Tears slowly running down his face.

Heller:" I hope you find your way to heaven Maya.." He said as he started to cry even harder with his head beginning to shake from the despair filled breaths he took.

Heller:" A Father should never have to bury his own daughter."

" **Music ends"**

While the graves of the ones he loved and lost were there, Heller did not want to be there since it reminded him of what he has lost.

57 years later, 2157:

James was booking passage on a human colony ship that was heading for Shanxi, The first planet that humanity colonized beyond the Sol Relay. James was no longer wearing his iconic black leather jacket since he would stick out if he still did. He had shape shifted into a plain gray shirt with a pair of blue jeans. The transport had entered the relay and soon had arrived to Shanxi.

James was one of last off the shuttle down to the planet since he was taking all the sights of the new planet.

James:" Now begins my new life I suppose." He muttered to himself.

James looked around the colony to find a place that he could claim or at least rest in. The planet looked like earth to a degree except that there were pretty much no buildings ,except for the ones in the colony, so it looked like a natural Earth. The floor of the colony was tiled white as well as the walls.

After hours of searching, Heller finally found a secluded room with no furnishings of any kind that no one seemed to be occupying. Heller decided there was nothing to do since he didn't know anyone in the colony and didn't want to talk to them, and it was apparently night time so he just rested his head on the floor a fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2: The Slaughter on Shanxi

Chapter 2: The Slaughter on Shanxi

When it was dawn on Shanxi, the sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard for miles around as a Turian occupation of Shanxi had commenced. Heller was violently woken up when a heavy Mako round blasted into his room. Heller took a few tumbles then managed to get on his feet a moment later.

Heller:" Not a goddamn day away from Earth and this bullshit happens!" Heller growled to himself.

The sounds of hundreds of boot steps flowed into the compound. Stepping outside the ruble of his apartment room, Heller looked over the bloody swath that an alien army, referred to soon after as turians, tore through the compound. They gunned down anyone who was standing up and grabbed the defenseless colonists that did not fight back and dragged them across the ground like rabid animals.

Heller:" These fucking assholes think it's fun to gun down the defenseless. Let's see how they handle a monster!" He sneered in anger.

While Heller has not used his viral powers for decades, he did not lose any of his potency in them, but Heller felt more ravenous and hungry then he ever had before since he denied his viral body humanoid bodies for decades, thus making Heller more of a beast in mind then he had been in a long time.

Since there were only ground soldiers in the compound, hundreds of them, Heller morphed his arms into his claw blades and jumped high into the air and onto the unsuspecting battalion of Turian Soldiers. A dozen or so of the soldiers had no time to react as serrated blades sliced through their barriers, armor, and flesh like tissue paper. Before more of the battalion could fully turn and fire at Heller, he morphed his right arm into a whip arm and spun it around in a 20 foot radius.

While their training had drilled in them to shoot and ask questions later unless ordered to stand down, The Turians that could see Heller all thought:

" What the hell is that!? Is it even a human!?"

The Turian militia in the compound were all notified of the new threat via Omni Tool com link and began to swarm the main hall where Heller engaged about a fourth of the battalion.

The mass accelerated round fired at Heller surprised him a bit since they were able to penetrate his armor like skin, but only by a few inches. Heller growled in rage as his body adapted to the more advanced mass accelerated rounds. His wounds healed quickly when his body became accustomed to the punch of the mass accelerated rounds. The result of the adaptation of a stronger hide without using his armor form was the rounds simply bounced off of him like gun powdered rounds did decades ago.

Heller morphed his arms back to human form as he felt the need to kill these bastards with his own hands. Each punch blasted a hole through each Turian he attacked. Heller occasionally grabbed a unlucky turian soldier and rips him in half in order to consume him completely. While Heller looked enough like a human, the Turians could not think that this thing was human, and they were right at least technically.

The heavy troops were called in as their assault rifles, pistols, snipers, and even shotguns had no effect on the monster in human form. The heavy troops got behind columns and barriers as they unleashed a barrage of mass accelerated rockets. Heller morphed his arms into thick, black, shields on both of his arms and raised them in front and behind him. When the barrage of rockets were about to make contact, Heller bashed his shield arms into them and sent them all back at their shooters. Only a few managed to duck into cover as the rest of the heavy troops were blown apart by their own rockets.

Heller morphed his arms into tendrils that he then uses to latch onto a support beam and tear it out of its foundation. The building could not support itself anymore when a support beam was torn out and began to collapse on the remainder of the soldiers inside. With the support beam still in his tendrils, Heller jumped through a hole in the roof of the compound. While a hundred feet or more in the air, Heller flung the support beam at the nearest Mako he could see.

The column hit the Mako, that was a good football field away, directly and enclaved the middle of the Mako into the ground. While still in the air, Heller used his gliding ability to sore across the collapsed compound and onto the field of awaiting Turian troops who still looked ready for a fight, especially after being notified of their forward unit being destroyed by a monster in human form.

Heller glided over a Tank division that was having a hard time getting a lock on him. Heller stopped gliding and morphed his arms into his hammerfists. He raised his arms in a slamming pose as he quickly accelerated to the ground floor. The ground shook violently as Heller landed in the middle of the tank division. The tank that Heller landed on was smashed into two parts that was flung in opposite directions a few meters away. Massive spikes shot out of the ground and impaled every tank and soldier within a few hundred feet away from the point of origin. There were still a few dozen Makos still left of the battlefield that were far enough away to not get impaled by spikes and now were focusing their cannons at Heller. The tanks fired in a consistent pattern towards the now morph shield arms. While the round did not damage the shield or Heller, he had a tough time trying to bash them back, and none of the rounds he managed to bash made it back to the target. Heller was in a bit of a bind as soldiers started to surround him from the opposite side of the tanks and fired upon him nonstop.

Heller:" Persistent little fuckers. I might have to try something new here." He thought to himself.

With his shield arms almost forming a ball around Heller, it did not take him long to come up with a creative plan. He morphed the shields together into a ball structure all around him. The spikes on his shields increased in length and size. Heller had morphed himself into what appeared to be a black Morningstar. A black and dark red haze formed around the ball as Heller gathered potential energy. He then released that potential energy into a fast acceleration forward that the tank shells could not slow down even with direct impact. Heller then jumped when he was a few meters in front of the tanks. When he was right on top of them, he exploded the spikes in his shield ball outward into a deadly barrage of thorny death. Spikes rained down on and impaled the Makos as Heller morphed out of his shield ball.

The ground was stained blue and silver as Turian blood and Ezzo spilled onto the shattered ground. There were still a lot, a couple of battalions at least, of foot soldiers that were advancing towards him. Heller decided to use an upgraded version of his call pack ability.

With red and black energy gathering around him, Heller released a powerful roar that broke any un-shattered glass in the tanks. The ground began to break apart in two massive sections as something(s) began to emerge from the ground. A gigantic arm breached from the two fissures from the ground. Soon the rest of the two massive bodies crawled from the fissures and roared in answer to their master. You could not call the Turians cowards, but most of them flinched in surprise and fear at the two massive abominations that Heller had called. Heller had called forth 2 goliaths to mop up the army of Turians since they no longer had heavy artillery to support them.

Heller:" Sick them!" He ordered the Goliaths.

The two goliaths charged forward with their massive right arms held to the ground like a steam roller. The turians were helpless as they were squished, smashed, and crushed under the strength and weight of the goliaths.

Several squadrons of Turian fighters soared in from afar and made attack runs against the goliaths and Heller.

Heller:" Keep crushing the ants! I'll handle the flies!" He ordered his goliaths.

Heller morph his arms into tendrils and decided to use a modified form of the Bio bomb in order to get rid of the fighters quickly. When the fighters circled for another attack run, Heller charged a Bio Bomb into his tendrils and shot them on to the side of the middle most squadron for maximum damage. Heller released the bio bomb onto one of the fighters and triggered it when his tendrils unlatched form the side of the fighter.

The bio bomb exploded tendrils in all directions as they latched onto a fighter and pulled it into its origin point and crushing them into a small ball of metal and biomass. One of the pilots managed to eject before a tendril snatch away his fighter, but died from impalement on one of the spikes still jutting out of the ground. Heller approached the dead pilot since he heard someone barking commands into a comlink on him.

Turian fleet admiral:" Can anyone down there give us some damn intel on what the hell is going on down there!?"

Heller believed this was a great opportunity for a disguise for infiltration purposes. Heller consumes the Turian pilot and attaches his Omni tool to his arm.

Turian Pilot:" The enemy was a lot stronger than we thought, both sides have faced mutual destruction at this location, you can begin orbital bombardment on their Garrisons."

Turian admiral:" Well…shit. That was a lot of good men we lost. We will send a small shuttle to pick you up at your location, once you are onboard then we will commence orbital bombardment."

Heller then set the Goliaths to consume the excess biomass on the battle field and then explode deep beneath the ground. Heller grinned to himself as the Turian fleet had no idea what was instore for them.

Sometime later on the docking bay of one of the 6 dreadnaughts in orbit:

Heller was still in his Turian disguise as he made his way to the bridge to give an "accurate" report to negate any suspicions. After giving his report to the ship's captain, Heller went to the engine bay where people were spaced far apart, one by one, Heller stealth consumed them, while avoiding cameras, and learned any relative information about the ship he could use. He learned that the turians use a single file formation in their fleet formations: this information would be useful when taking out all 6 dreadnaughts, and fortune would have it that he was on the dreadnaught on the most left of the fleet formation. Heller had to work quickly before suspicions could raise any alarms.

First Heller had to cut the communications, which was not too difficult, and then the unessential crew members since they would be easy to pick off. Then he had to pick off maintenance, medical, and artillery without getting caught, which was a real challenge, but Heller was able to pull it off with his disguises and patience.

Heller eventually made it back to the bridge and killed all of the occupants as quickly as he could. With the dreadnaught now vacant of Turians, Heller used the memories of the pilots of the dreadnaught in order to have the ship turn to the right and go FTL on a delayed time so he could escape on a shuttle. Heller had to smash his way through walls in order to get to the docking bay in time before the dreadnaught made its FTL jump. Heller found a shuttle that could go FTL in the bay, which he boarded and left the bay and Shanxi before the dreadnaught made its FTL jump into the other 5 dreadnaughts, thus destroying them all completely.


	3. Chapter 3: Living as a Turian

Chapter 3: Living as a Turian

 **Author: While it still is not much in the grand scheme of things, I think this is the fastest favorited/followed fanfic I have written: 6 followers in less than a day. I guess you guys really like the idea or at least Prototype/Mass Effect Crossovers! Well… I will try not to disappoint you!**

Heller had a lot of time to think about what to do in the recent future as the small shuttle zips towards relay 314. He did not want to go back to Shanxi since more Turians would surly come and in greater numbers, along with the alliance in greater numbers. Heller most certainly did not want to go back to Earth: he left behind to many painfully memories on Earth that he simply wishes to forget, but can't.

Since Humanity has not joined the galactic community yet, Heller's options were few and clear to see. Even though the Turian military acted like assholes on Shanxi, he would have to remain as a Turian for the time being until the circumstances allow him to return to his original form.

The decades have taught Heller to be more analytical and patience when the time allowed it. There were a few places in the galaxy Heller could go to as a Turian: Palaven and the Citadel stood out the most in terms of places to go since the Turians he consumed were all military.

The Turian home world would have the greatest suspicion of him due to the likely hood that people on Palaven would know the Turian form he takes by face. The other, and most likely option was the Citadel, though he won't be able to use his viral powers since it is one of the most monitored station in Citadel Space if not the most monitored one.

Heller surmised that more than likely the Citadel Council, especially Councilor Sparatus, will want a detailed report on what happened on Shanxi and apparently he was the only survivor. In order to make the story that he will come up with more believable, he would have to damage his shuttle before docking.

Heller eventually came up with the idea to detonate small charges in nonessential parts of the shuttle; the shuttle is about half the size of the Normandy, to make it appear it was attacked without making it inoperable.

Heller:" Shit! I should not forget that the higher ups will want video evidence. Fuck! I hope that this Omni tool did not record any part of my involvement or else I'm in some deep shit!"

Heller skims through the Omni tool's video logs and was revealed that the chaos in the sky was caught on vid, the parts with the viral biomass was not on the vid, making it look like the fighter squadrons were all shot down from underneath, at least according to what the vid shows.

The last thing that Heller needed was a Turian form that he liked or most suited his needs. Searching through the memories of dozens to hundreds of Turian soldiers, Heller came across the memories of one Venari Pallin. Venari was about 20+ years old and was a real by the books kind of soldier as he looked up to his superiors and never seemed to have disobeyed any order in his short 2 year career. In his two years of service, Venari went from private to a low seat officer position and was given the nickname "Cruiser Venari" because while he was not the most heavily armed or dangerous soldier deployed, he was one of hardest to put down and has even escaped an exploding ship before, which would make his survival all the more believable.

Heller was close to docking when he assumed the form of Venari Pallin. After exiting the shuttle, Pallin went to C-Sec to fill his report on Shanxi to the Council and to transfer to C-Sec in the Enforcement Division.

It took a bit of careful acting and word play, but Pallin managed to convince the Councilors that the occupation of Shanxi ended in mutual destruction and that Humanity is not to be underestimated, nor have the conflict drag out into a unnecessary war that will cost both sides dearly, though the last argument was disagreed upon between the councilors with Sparatus holding majority power in Turian affairs.

Heller was at first uncomfortable being in disguise for long periods of time, not that it was hard to do, but that he preferred his original body since it reminded him of who he originally was, but over time grew into his guise and station. Heller chose to be in the enforcement division because of his "unusual" resilience to injury. His accomplishments in C-Sec; everything from large drug busts to large gang war fair by himself at times and with minimal casualties: mostly due to being able to move through heavy gunfire and punch criminals hard enough to knock them out.

To help him excel even further in C-Sec, Pallin sometimes displayed his "accumulated" intellect in unusual cases that sometimes stumps the investigation division. Pallin also used this amazing intellect to quickly adapt and overcome obstructions in Cybercrime cases, though Heller still told himself that he hated computers.

In just 20 or more years of handling cases in 3 of the 6 divisions with top performance, Pallin was promoted to head of C-Sec by unanimous agreement from the Councilors.

A few years after his promotion as head of C-Sec, he got a request from one of his trust worthy officers in the investigation division to hire his son, Garrus Vakarian. Pallin decided to see how the boy worked and operated, so he had at least one other investigator to follow him on cases and rate his performance on both a standard assessment and personal assessment.

Garrus had determination to get the job done, regardless of what red tape was in the way. While this would have gotten most C-Sec officers fired, Pallin liked Garrus' additude about the job, but seemed still a bit naïve on things, but he saw great potential in Garrus as a sort of "man for the people, of the people" since he had more personality than most new recruits.

While Garrus' antics caused massive amounts of paper work for Pallin to deal with, Pallin was proud of him, even though he never admitted it aloud and always berated Garrus whenever he did not follow protocol, but only because that was a part of his job.

Year 2183:

Garrus was asking for more time on the Saren cause and asked for Pallin to stall them, but Pallin would not do that since that would piss them off, but Pallin did whisper into Garrus' left ear that he heard of a curious Quarian that could be linked to the Saren case and silently ordered him to investigate it once the meeting started.

Sometime later:

Pallin got an unexpected visit from "Spectre" Shepard.

Pallin:" Commander Shepard? I didn't expect to see you here. Did that asshat Odina send you?"

Shepard:" That sounded unlike you and your professional tone that you spoke to Garrus back in the tower."

Pallin:" While I do have political concerns about humans, that idiot makes me forget myself and my "professionalism"."

Shepard:" I can understand you on that one, though I get the feeling that you are not fond of humans."

Pallin:" It's not that I hate them or get repulsed by them. I just think they are rising up the ladder to quickly and have become the council's favorite "pet"."

Shepard:" The council treats s like second rate citizens: we have to fight for everything we get."

Pallin:" Good, then fight and prove your honor and nobility, but don't think we will just sit aside and let you take it. Do you need anything else?"

Shepard:" What do you know of the Spectres?"

Pallin:" Were you not just made one Shepard? Didn't the council tell you what they are or did they just tell you their sugar coated crap version of what they are? "Right handed side of the Council" they call them, more like the underhanded side of the council."

Shepard was a little confused since some of Pallin's facial expressions did not match his words, as if he actually liked what the Spectres do, but he was not going to make an ass out of himself and Pallin since the expressions were so minuet that Shepard could have imagined it.

Shepard:" What do you have against the Spectres?"

Pallin:" Nothing personal, but I can't abide any organization that considers itself above the law, especially when it is up each individual spectre to when and how to bend the rules."

Pallin solidifies his expressions of discontent by remembering Blackwatch and how they thought that they were above the law.

Shepard:" Sometimes you have to bend the law to keep people safe."

Pallin:" I've been with C-Sec for 30 years and never had to bend the law to do my job. When you think that you can bend the law to whatever degree you want, there is a good chance you become the very thing you are trying to stop."

Wrex:" Don't piss in my ear and tell me it is raining!"

Pallin:" Do you not think that I hold my officers to the same if not higher standard than the common man?! I am well aware the temptations of corruption and how far it can reach. Why do you think I feel the way that I do about Spectres?!"

Shepard:" The galaxy needs people to do the dirty jobs."

Pallin:" Yes, but they need to be held to a higher standard, be held accountable. Saren is out of control, we both know that, but because he is a spectre, the council does not want to do anything about. Is that the kind of person this galaxy needs?"

Shepard:" Not all Spectres are like Saren."

Pallin:" True, but the possibility is always there. Is there anything else you would like to ask?"

Shepard:" Tell me your investigation into Saren."

Pallin:" To tell you the truth, not much more about the current case than you already know, but I am running a full search on his past assignments and whereabouts that are on records and from other sources so I can see if this was a sudden change in him or if has always been like this, though I felt like he was always an asshole, just covers up the fact better from time to time. That is about all I can say on the matter Shepard."

Shepard:" I'll be going now."

Shepard left Pallin's office and headed towards the docks to begin his hunt for Saren.

Pallin:" He certainly seems the strong willed type. I hope he brings some "fun" back with him to the Citadel. Getting really tired just sitting on my ass, filing out reports all day. Goddamn I'm bored!" He thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4: Fun for a Price

Chapter 4: Fun for a Price

 **I know that the title sucks a bit, but it was a bit difficult to come up with one for this chapter so bare with me.**

Sometime later:

Pallin was typing away at his desk and slowly losing his mind from boredom. Everything was either calm or taken care of by other C-sec officers so there was nothing else to do.

Pallin:" I really hope this place gets invaded soon: not sure how long I can keep my sanity from this boring ass shit!" He thought to himself.

It was only a couple of days after he wished that did Shepard return to ask for an invasion of Ilos. Shepard was refused and the Normandy was grounded. Pallin sensed an opportunity to liven up his day a bit and cause a little confusion and mayhem.

Shepard was sulking next to the mess when he got an unexpected call on his Omni tool.

Pallin:" Shepard."

Shepard:" Pallin? I didn't expect you to call me, and how did you get the frequency of my Omni tool from your desk?!"

Pallin:" I have my ways Shepard; in fact, some of my employees nicknamed me Shadow broker with how much I know and can learn as well as who I can get into contact with, but it does help with my job. Meet me in my office Shepard."

Shepard:" For what reason?"

Pallin:" I would rather talk to you in person than an open channel Shepard. That is all." He said as he ended the call.

Shepard got the hint that he didn't want anyone picking up their conversation. Shepard geared up with Tali and Garrus and made their way to Pallin's office.

Shepard:" What did you need to talk about in person?" He asked as he entered the office.

Pallin:" I know that what you need to do on Ilos has to be done Shepard. The Council could have just sent you like they did before with minimum cost if something went wrong, but they have their heads wedged in their asses because they don't want to admit that there could be a real problem."

While Shepard was not too surprised with him disagreeing with the council, he was taken aback that he was agreeing with him.

Shepard:" Are you offering me help to escape?"

Pallin:" Yes I am. That is why I hacked the cameras in this room and just outside into a video loop to look like this conversation is not happening. This is a big risk I am taking Shepard, and this will be the first time in my career that I went against protocal, but you need to get to Ilos and stop Saren. I am also helping you for my own benefit: I'm bored out of my mind Shepard and I think you could help lighten up my day with a little mischief and maybe even some combat."

Shepard:" So how will you help? They locked down the Normandy."

Pallin:" I know, I gave the order from Odina to C-sec to do that, but I can lift the lockdown from this console."

Shepard:" You have access to traffic control?! I know that you are the head of C-sec but shouldn't that be handled by Customs?"

Pallin:" *chuckle* I have a bit more power than I care to admit, but I am helping you on your mission Shepard and that is all that should matter now. You know to keep this conversation between us?"

Shepard:" Yeah. I know you don't trust humans, but you can consider me as a friend if you want."

Pallin typed on his console and lifted the lockdown on the Normandy.

Pallin:" Will do and good luck."

Shepard left the room and made his way to the Normandy that was no longer on lockdown.

Pallin:" Now let's see what happens. Hope some of the action comes my way." He thought to himself.

Reports of Geth invading the Citadel flooded the com channels an hour later and Pallin could not be happier.

Pallin:" Finally! Something to kill! Thank you Shepard!"

Pallin took out the only gun he carried on his person, a high level Karpov pistol, and aimed it at one of the cameras in his office.

Pallin:" No killjoys!" He smirked.

He shot out every camera in his office and just outside then deleted the surveillance footage from his console.

It was then that the geth poured into the Citadel and slaughtered any organic in their path. The largest pool of forces was assigned to eliminate Citadel Security so that their occupation goes uninterrupted while Saren went to the Citadel tower with a small force of a few dozen geth. A small portion of about 15 squads was dispatched to the embassies to kill the ambassadors since the Council managed to evacuate shortly after the invasion. The geth poured through the small hallways and corridors of the embassies. There were no organics to be found, at least as far as the geth could see. Odina's office was also empty, but there was a large hole in the flow that looked like it was torn open.

Pallin:" You should have gotten here about 20 minutes ago if you wanted Odina. Would have loved to see that asshat on the floor in a pool of his own blood, but I guess I am going to have to settle with tearing all of you apart with my bare hands." He spoke though Odina's console.

The geth were now on high alert as they suspected some sort of trap, but could never have prepared themselves for what happens next.

A wall of red viral biomass shot up from the ground and sealed off the exit from the right embassies. The geth panicked as they were trapped with a unknown enemy that they didn't see. A blades hand with red and black biomass suddenly shot up from the floor and grabbed a geth prime and violently pulled it through the floor.

The geth started to frantically firing into the floor with no success. They could hear the scratching of metal and whines of the prime as it was torn apart. A large splashing sound was soon heard, followed by multiple thuds of metal hitting a metal floor. As the geth focused their attention on the floor, they did not see that the organic wall was slowly splitting open. Heller had changed back to his original form with his arms morphed into claw hands. He shot out of the hole in the organic wall and began swinging his claw hands into the unsuspected geth. The geth could only turn and face their attacker before each and every single one of them was shredded into confetti of metal and tubes. The floor was painted white with their synthetic fluids that oozed into the holes in the floor.

Heller assimilated the biomass wall and made his way to the other embassy wing. The geth had found no organics in the wing and were just exiting the doors when they were greeted by Heller whose clawed hands were dripping with white fluid. Heller tore through the front squad with such veracity that the squads farther away from them were sprayed with white synthetic fluid. Heller then thrusted his left arm into the wall while the remaining squads opened fired on him. Before any of the geth could get within melee distance of Heller, massive tendrils erupted from the left walls and shot straight to the right and the back again in a consistent pattern. The geth were crushed, smashed, torn in half, and flattened by the crisscrossing tendrils.

Heller retracted the tendrils and made his way out of the ruined embassies. Heller saw the elevator to the Citadel tower head up with Saren and geth inside.

Heller:" O no you don't mother fucker!"

Heller jumped high into the air: well over the hills of ruble that blocked many of the paths to the elevator. Heller landed in front of the Avina terminal and jumped again towards the elevator tube. He planted his feet and ran up the tube as fast as he could. Heller was light a freight train as he smashed the glass tube with his foot fall and speed, but the elevator was much faster than him.

Heller:" Out of all of the shit elevators in the galaxy, this had to be the one worth shit!" He complained.

-A few minutes later with Shepard, Tali, and Garrus:

The conduit came to live again and out shot a makko that flies and crashes into the floor close to the elevator. The squad pulls themselves out of the wreckage and made their way to the elevator. When they entered the now returned elevator, Shepard noticed that the glass of the tube was shattered a few hundred feet up.

Shepard:" Suit up! Looks like Saren tried to break the elevator!"

-Back with Heller:

Heller made it to the top of the elevator shaft and smashed through the glass and onto the floor of the council chambers. Heller used his viral sonar to locate Saren. The sonar circled out Saren in the far distance where the council holds meetings. His viral sonar also alerted Heller to a massive biomass signature landing on top of Citadel. Heller would have ignored it, but the biomass was pumping through a 2 kilometer structure. Based on reports from Eden Prime, the outline that the biomass was making must have been Saren flag ship.

Heller:" So that massive ass ship is alive?! Well….shit. At least I can kill something really big now after I'm done with Saren!"

Heller heard a hatch opening behind him and sensed that it was humans who were entering the tower.

Heller:" Fuck it's Shepard! I can't let him see me in this form. I guess the big mother fucker is mine then."

Heller's whole body morphed a thick armor of grey biomass around every inch of his body as he charged forward and jumped. Heller soared over a surprised Saren and smashed through the large window in the back of the tower. Explosive decompression threatened to suck Saren and the geth out into space, but an emergency barrier was activated and covered the breach.

Heller's armor form protected his body from the sub-zero temperature of space. Heller was an embodiment of the blacklight virus and thus did not need to worry about breathing or damaged organs since he didn't have internal organs.

While Shepard had the easy job of confronting Saren, Heller had the more fun job of fighting a 2km sentient ship in space.

Heller uses his whipfist to grapple to the side of the tower. Heller slammed his feet as he ran up the tower so he could generate grip and momentum in zero gravity. Heller leaps from the tower and lunges his hammerfists at Sovereign's underbelly. Unlike the geth and turians he has killed, the barrier around Sovereign did not yield to his strength.

Heller:" Tough little fucker aren't you!?"

Heller continued to whale on Sovereign with little to no success, but was still doing a better job than the Alliance was.

Sovereign thought that a dreadnaught had positioned itself below him and was firing consistently, so he raised a few of his legs and fired a red beam of suspended metal at the Alliance vessels. Heller's viral sonar showed him hundreds of human soldiers being utterly destroyed as they faded into the dark background of the sonar.

Heller's mind raced with thoughts on how to deter Sovereign from destroying the alliance ships. He could not pierce his barrier and he did not know how strong his armor was. Noticing that Sovereign appeared to be balancing himself on the tower; Heller soon came up with a plan of attack.

Heller changed his left hand into a whipfist while keeping his right as a hammerfist. Heller threw his whipfist around one of Sovereign's legs still on the tower. The whip wrapped around the barrier and held tightly to it as Heller cocked his hammerfist. Helller pulled himself to the leg as quickly as he could as he readied his hammerfist. He slammed into Sovereigns leg with enough force to unbalance and free the tower from Sovereign.

Sovereign now knew that what hit him was no MAC round as whatever hit his leg hit it harder than anything that the ships around him were firing. The point of impact was also very small; too small to be from the MAC rounds of the cruisers and dreadnaughts around him. Sovereign adjusted his position and scanned the area for the anomaly that attacked his leg.

Sovereign located a viral anomaly on the very top of the tower. While Sovereign would hardly believe something as small as a human could hit him that hard, it was the only logical thing that could have done so. If Sovereign was so busy fighting over the Alliance and trying to manually take over the Citadel, he would have tried to indoctrinate such a fascinated specimen. Since time was a factor, Sovereign decided to simply eliminate the anomaly and maybe study it later if it is not completely destroyed.

The Alliance fleet noticed Sovereign get dislodged from the tower, but could not see Heller since he was very small compared to the tower and the Reaper. They were also to busy trying to kill said Reaper to make any closer examinations.

Sovereign pointed one of his front legs at Heller and fired his beam of molten metal. Heller morphed his shield arms and braced for impact. To the Reaper's amazement, the viral anomaly managed to block the shot, though was now drifting freely through space.

Heller:" Now I have his attention, but damn was that a powerful shot: almost cracked my shield arms. If he fires at me enough times he might be able to get a direct hit and cause some serious damage. It has been centuries since I had a challenge."

Heller would be grinning like an idiot if he could smile in his armored form. Most of Sovereign's attention was now on Heller, but still destroyed Alliance ships with its other legs. Heller tried to use his whipfist to latch back onto the tower, but Sovereign was paying too much attention to let it go unnoticed. He fired a beam straight at the middle of Heller's whipfist. Since the whipfist is unarmored when in use, the beam sliced through Heller's whipfist with little difficulty.

Heller:" Fuck that burns! Asshole figured out what I was doing. Have to find another way to propel myself."

Sovereign readied another attack at Heller. Heller morphed his shield arms again and braced for impact. Heller never felt the powerful impact of Sovereigns main gun after a minute of wait and wondered what the hell it was waiting for. Heller put his shield arms to his sides, but still had them as shields just in-case.

Heller saw blue power discharges off of the Reapers body as it went limp as if he was dead. Heller decided to take his chances and morphed another whipfist and send it straight at Sovereign's back. The whipfist sailed towards its target and did not stop until it hit the Reaper's armor directly. A small indent was made in its armor from the whipfist, indicating that its kinetic barriers were down.

While still touching the Reaper's body, Heller morphed his whipfist into tendrils that would stick to the armor. Heller changed his right arm into a spiked hammerfist and pulled himself to the Reaper at full speed. Heller's spiked Hammer fist managed to punch through Sovereign's body and the momentum aloud the rest of Heller's body to punch through the hole his arm made.

Once inside, Heller shot tendrils from his body into all of the organic matter inside Sovereign and ate him from the inside. Sovereign was rendered deceased when his organic half was completely devoured. Sovereign had much more biomass than Alex Mercer ever did as the genetic material of millions of organics flowed into Heller.

Instead of an explosion of massive tendrils, Heller's body changed dramatically even for the blacklight virus as he started to take on characteristics of Sovereign. His armored form changed from grey and bulky into a much smoother and darker armor that was almost "skin" tight in appearance. The tips of his fingers flattened and took on the appearance of the Reaper's limbs, at least the ends of his limbs. A small stream of red formed the same patterns as Sovereigns across his body.

Heller felt a massive surge of energy inside his newly forming body. It felt like his insides were filled with lava and were about to explode. Heller screamed through a mouth he did not have as he released the overwhelming energy inside him. A massive explosion of red energy blasted out from Heller and blew apart Sovereign's midsection.

The Alliance took notice of the explosion that originated from inside Sovereign. They knew that none of their weapons caused it and wonder what the hell was going on. They observed closely what must have been the point of origin as the Reaper's body was push away in two parts with smaller parts breaking off and crashing into the Citadel. Upon close examination from vid and windows, the Alliance ships, and the Normandy could see a small dot in the form of a humanoid drifting from the middle of the explosion.

Heller had for all intents and purposes had become a miniature Sovereign. Heller did not know what he had morphed into because his mind was being overwhelmed with memories of millions of people, from a species long extinct. The unimaginable amount of memories and information flooding Heller's mind forced him into a comatose state as his body directed all functions not necessary for the virus to live towards processing the information.

-3 months later:

3 months of a deathless slumber; of constantly processing information at a faster rate than any VI or AI in the galaxy when Heller finally began to stir again. Heller first felt his limbs. They felt restrain with heavy metal. Heller slowly opened his new form's eyes as got more and more control over his awakening body. Heller saw that he was restrained in a lab cell on a table held on the back wall. A kinetic barrier sealed off the cell.

Heller was reminded of his first time becoming an evolved, being a test subject for blackwatch, as he looked in the cell around him. Broken equipment meant to drill and cut were scattered on the floor along with broken needles and scalpels. The equipment looked broken for a longer time than the tools since they were not as worn as the equipment. Heller could here soft footsteps outside the cell and looked through the transparent barrier to see what it was. A Turian was walking slowly with no reason or objective. His movements were sluggish and had no purpose to it as if the turian didn't have a single thought in his mind.

Heller:" You there! Shit head! Where the hell am I?!"

The Turian turned towards the barrier in a sluggish manner, stared blankly into it then moved on.

Heller:" What the hell?! He acted like a docile animal. He didn't face a single expression on his face. He looked like a guard from his armor and weapons. What the Fuck happened here?!"

Heller easily broke his heavy metal restraints like they were tinfoil. Heller saw the change to his hands.

Heller:" What the fuck happened to me?!"

Heller then remembered his fight with Sovereign and how he had consumed all of the biomass in the Reaper. Heller quickly put two and two together since he has experienced something like this before.

Heller:" A new form!? Let's test this out then!"

Heller thought it was simply armor at first and tried to morph his arms into hammerfist. Heller felt no change to his arms like they usually do when he changes them. He saw that his arms were still the smooth, dark armor from before. Puzzled, Heller tried to morph his right hand back to human form. This time his hand did change into human form.

Heller:" So I can't use my viral weapons in this form. Damnit! I hope it is useful."

Heller approached the barrier and tried to punch it. Instead of shattering like barriers usually do when he hits them, the barrier simply opened a hole that eventually dissipated the entire barrier.

Heller:" bypassing and disabling barriers with a touch. Not bad, but let's see what else you can do."

Heller turned left and saw the Turian from before turn around and stare at him blankly without saying a word. Heller looked at his right hand in curiosity. Heller held his hand in front of him and let it hang loosely. Heller noticed that his hand looked a bit like the Reaper he consumed.

Heller:" If this form has any similarities to that sentient dreadnaught then…"

Heller raised his right index finger and pointed it at the turian. A small ball of red light formed at the end of his finger and quickly shot forward in a red beam of molten metal. The docile Turian didn't even flinch as his entire midsection was vaporized. The beam melted through the wall behind the Turian and through the next set of walls beyond that; traveling the length of a dreadnaught and burning through walls a tenth that distance.

Heller:" Hell Fucking YEAH!"

Heller made his way through the military lab with a spring in his step. All of the soldiers and scientist were all docile and did not seem to give a rat's ass about him as the continued to mindlessly move around the facility. Heller was still confused as to what the hell happened to all of the people here, but he was in too much of a good mood to really care at the moment.

Heller:" I guess I will just grab the nearest shuttle and leave these sheep here."

Heller found the docking bay and left the military base, stationed on a massive asteroid in a system with no planets, while admiring his new form and ability.

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It probably is not hard to guess, but can you tell me what happened to all of the Turian soldiers and Scientists in the military base?**


	5. Chapter 5: A Necessary Evil

Chapter 5: A Necessary Evil

Heller weighed his options now that he was in a small shuttle in turian space. It would very suspicious if he returned to the citadel as Executor Pallen. As time slowly passed, he could not think of a good place to go.

Heller sifted through the countless thousands of memories that he obtained from Sovereign for anything interesting. He saw through the eyes of millions as they each lived out their lives. He saw their advancements in technology, tech that was on par with the protheans. He saw through the eyes of the victims of the harvest that occurs every 50,000 years. He saw family, friends, and complete strangers be turned into foul abominations that reminded him of blacklight. Heller might have gone berserk from the memories flowing into the forefront of his mind, but he knew that he was in space and that breaking his only transport would be very bad.

Heller then sifted through Sovereigns own memories. He saw through Sovereign the dozens of harvests he was a part of. He saw the implementation of indoctrination from the reapers and how it worked. He saw his surprise when the Citadel would not accept his remote access commands. He witnessed "his" conversation with Shepard on Vermire. And during his last moments of live, he overheard sovereign speaking with what sounded like another reaper.

"Attempts to open the Citadel mass relay were thwarted." Sovereign stated.

"Perplexing situation; what caused the failure?" A more ominous sounding reaper asked.

"Manuel control of Citadel interrupted. Host form Saren killed by the human Commander Shepard. Humans are primary source of failure. Suggest as next primary target for harvesting."

"Suggestion accepted. Commander Shepard is the biggest threat in this cycle. Will utilize Collector host forms to intercept and eliminate the threat when target is exposed. Is there anything else to add?"

"Incomplete scan of highly adaptable viral form. Threat level to harvest: Very high. Suggest to neutralize and study viral form."

"…Viral adaptation speed beyond anything on record. Mutagenic, interchangeable, and deceiving. Viral form must be contained and studied. Viral strains suggest constant regeneration on cellular level, indicating type 1 and 3 immortality. Adaptation characteristics present complications with containment and elimination procedures. Will mark as secondary priority, until further determination of threat level."

"…" The connection abruptly cuts off as Sovereign is consumed from the inside.

"I always seem to attract all kinds of assholes." Heller thought to himself.

"Based on what I saw, the other reaper will try to covertly kill Shepard with the collectors. They will then set out to harvest humans to form another reaper. They may be powerful and vast in number, but I'm not just gonna sit on my ass and let those mother fuckers do as they please without a fight! I need to find Shepard before it is too late."

Heller used his new found abilities as a reaper/viral hybrid to covertly hack into communication systems to try and get a fix on Shepard's current location. Heller eventually picked up on the Normandy's signal as it transmitted reports in the Terminus Systems to alliance command. Unknown to the Normandy, another ship of unknown design was following its transmissions.

Heller was able to pick up the unknown ship's profile from the Normandy's surveillance sweeps.

"Fuckers are closing in on Shepard! I need to get their now!" Heller shouted as he passed from one relay to another.

While Heller was piloting as fast as the small shuttle can go with the same skill as Joker, he was still too late to stop the collector attack on the Normandy. The Normandy had been blown apart and there were no signs of life in sight, save for some escape pods drifting in space. Heller used his viral sonar to sweep the area for life sighs. The pods had healthy life signs in them. In the distance, towards the ice covered planet, a quickly fading life sign was being pulled towards the planet. While the life sign was barely visible to the viral sonar, Heller immediately recognized who it was.

"God Fucking Damnit!" He shouted as he piloted towards Shepard's now lifeless body.

He followed the body down to the planet's surface. He landed on the planet's surface near where Shepard landed. When Heller reached Shepard, he saw that he was in really bad shape even for a corpse flung into space. Heller contemplated on what he should do.

"Damnit! Why did those dumb fucks in alliance command send Shepard all the way out here on his own!? It's like they wanted him to get killed! Even with this galaxy's advanced tech, I don't think anyone could save him."

Heller looks down at his hands and then back to Shepard.

"Anyone….. expect me….fuck"

Heller knelt down next to Shepard.

"This galaxy still needs you Shepard. You may hate me for all of eternity for what I'm about to do, but at least this galaxy will have a chance to survive the harvest." He said as he plunged his right hand into Shepard.

Heller stood up from the ground as the blacklight virus began to reconstruct Shepard's broken and torn body together. The virus regenerated all of the broken biomass, restored lost memories during the crash, and changed him into the blacklight virus just as it did Heller.

Before the transformation and regeneration process was completed, another shuttle, one bearing a unique insignia on the side, landed near them.

"Fuck! Shepard won't be in control of his powers yet when he wakes. If he or I was discovered, then it could lead to a serious incident." Heller thought to himself.

Heller crouched low to the ground and slowly approached the exiting occupants of the shuttle like a predator. There were 3 occupants: a soldier, a doctor, and a scientist. They each had the emblem on their uniforms that was on the side of their shuttle. Once he was close, he sprang from the cover of snow and consumed them all. Before the piolet could escape or scream, Heller entered the shuttle and consumed him.

"Report!: Do you have the subject?" came a call to the shuttle.

Heller changed into one of the occupants.

"Subject has been recovered. Project Lazarus can commence."

"What is the state of the subject?"

"He appears to be in critical condition. I don't know how he survived, but he needs medical attention immediately.

"How the hell?!... Bring the subject to the station immediately."

"Will Do, but I am afraid that 3 of us didn't make it."

"HOW?!" in disbelief.

"The visibility on ground was near zero. When we retrieved the subject, three of us fell into bottomless caverns. I was the only one to make it back to safety with the subject."

"Well…..Shit! Just get Shepard here ASAP!" Ends the transmission.

"They can't know about me and Shepard. I guess I'm going to have to stage a station wide "accident"." Heller thought to himself.

Once they were on the station, Heller hacked and disabled the communications in the facility. Once Shepard was on an operating table, baffling all of the medical scientists on the station, Heller remotely hacked all of the mechs on the station to kill everyone.

A day later:

Shepard woke up on an operating table with a N7 jacket, white t-shirt, and jeans on. Shepard was expecting his body to hurt like hell, but in fact it was quite the opposite. He never felt so good in his life. All of his body's annoying pains were gone. His arms and legs felt very strong. He sat up and gripped the operating table.

There was a creaking and bending of metal sound when he gripped the table. Shepard looked down and saw that he had put finger and palm indentations in the metal operating table. What surprised Shepard the most about this was how effortlessly he crumbled up the table.

Shepard got off the table and examined his own hands in amazement and curiosity. He used his left hand to feel around his right hand. He did not feel anything that could be metal or synthetic in his hand. He patted and pressed all around his body for any signs of cybernetics that could explain his superhuman strength. All that Shepard felt was flesh, muscle, and what felt like bone, at least to Shepard.

"What the Hell happened to me?! I remember suffocating and falling, then it all goes blank. What happened to me that turned me from a probable corpse to a super human?" He asked himself.

Shepard looked at his surroundings and noticed that lights were shot out, doors and hallways damaged, and the smell of blood in the air. The area was deadly silent.

"Whatever happened here must have something to do with why I am so unusually strong. The smell of blood is strong in the air, but I don't see any bodies yet and why does that smell make me feel hungry?!" He thought with unease to himself.

Shepard was unable to find any armor or weapons in the room he was in or the next room. When Shepard entered a hallway with two doors, mechs came from the far side door and started shooting at him. The mechs seemed to be going a bit slower than Shepard thought that they should have as he dived from cover to cover. He jumped from the closest cover into melee range of the mechs. Shepard's first punch had blasted a watermelon sized hole the mech's chest and sent the mech flying into the far side wall. The mech shattered into pieces and left a sizeable dent in the wall.

The other mechs turned towards Shepard and shot him. Since he didn't have any armor or shields Shepard expected to feel extreme pain from the rounds piercing him, but all he felt was tiny taps on his "skin". Shepard looked down at his chest and noticed that the rounds were being stopped almost immediately when they made contact with his body. The rounds feel harmlessly to the ground.

Shepard was at a loss of words and emotions for a few moments as he processed what just happened. He thought that he would be questioning why this was as well, but he was filled with a childish joy as a smile crawled up Shepard's face. Shepard felt like he was living a child fantasy as he put up his arms and took a fighting stance. Shepard reduced each mech that he encountered to bits and pieces with a single punch or kick. Shepard saw bloodied corpses on the ground as he made his way through the station. Each body he past made him feel more and more hungry instead of mortified like a normal human's reaction. Shepard surpassed the feeling and told himself that he would ponder over it later. Shepard made it to the room just before the shuttle bay when he saw the first living person on the station.

The person was a dark "skinned" man wearing a black and red jacket similar to the one that he was currently wearing.

"So you are finally up and about. Took you long enough, but I will cut you some slack since you were dead for 10 minutes."

"Just 10 Minutes? How did from orbit to a station in just ten minutes?!" Shepard asked.

"You were planet side when you were found. You had died a few moments after you crashed. What was left of you could fit in a bucket."

"That bad? Then how am I….."

"Alive? That was my doing Shepard."

"Wait; How do you know my name?!"

"After you stunt on the Citadel, it would be very hard for anyone to not recognize you, but knowing your name is not what is important right now. When you woke up, did you notice something very strange about yourself?"

"Yes actually. I know my own strength by now, but I know that I couldn't put indents in metal just by lightly gripping a table. I also don't recall being strong enough to punch holes in mechs and send them flying across rooms. I also seem to be impervious to mass affected rounds."

"And did you feel a strange feeling or sensation whenever you found a body on the floor? Like hunger?"

"Yes I did, but how did you know that?! Do you know what happened here? Are you responsible for what happened to me after the Normandy explosion?"

"Yes I know what happened here and I am responsible for "what" you are now."

"Why did you put so much emphasis on "what"?"

"Now that is the right question Shepard. The reason why for the emphasis on the "what" cannot be explained with simple words. Do you see that body over there?" He asked as he point to a body lying on the floor at the back of the small area.

Shepard nods.

"Go over to it and I will show you something."

"Is this going to be "seeing a dead body" joke? Because I don't think this is a good time, and I am not the right guy to tell those to"

"I am serious Shepard. Go over to that body and I will explain."

Shepard went over to the corpse in the corner of the room. The other man walked over to the corpse and knelt down. He motioned to Shepard to kneel down next to him. The man took the arm of the bloody corpse with his right hand. He extended his left hand to Shepard.

"What you are about to experience is going to be really fucked up at first Shepard, but this will better explain why you are as strong, fast, and invulnerable as you are. Are you ready?"

"I am, but I have no idea what you are doing or what is going to happen."

"Give me you left hand."

Shepard reluctantly gives the man his left hand. The man pulls the corpse arm to Shepard's hand and closes Shepard's hand around the corpse arm. Almost instantly, black and red "energy" coursed over his hand and extended to the corpse arm. His hand and arm quickly morphed from a human arm into tendrils that began to devour the body. Shepard wanted to pull his arm away from the horror that he was witnessing, but the tendrils did not stop devouring the body. In a matter of moments, the body was gone and only a bloody pool was left on the floor. Memories of someone else flooded Shepard's mind. The memories were of a Cerberus technician that worked at the station. After the memories left the front of his mind, Shepard stumbled and fell backwards. Shepard had witnessed abominations before, in the form of the husks, but it is one thing to fight and kill an abomination, it is a completely different story when you are the abomination.

Shepard froze in fear of himself as he looked at his left arm that had morphed back to normal.

"Shepard….. what was left of you after the explosion and crash….. nobody in the galaxy could have saved you. Nobody but…me. I know that the reapers are coming Shepard. I saw it for myself in a vision similar to what you experienced on Eden Prime. This galaxy needs you Shepard. If you perish before the war's end, then all of sentient life in this galaxy will perish. I had to make sure that you lived Shepard, so I did the only thing I could do to save you. You have gained your life back Shepard and all of your memories with it, but you gave something important up for it. You are now like me Shepard * morphs his right hand into claws and then back*. You and I are scientifically no longer humans. I'm sorry Shepard. I really am. This life was force upon me as well. I had no right to force this shit on you, but without you then all sentient life in this galaxy will die or worse."


	6. Chapter 6: Trust Building

Chapter 6: Trust Building

"What… am I?!" Shepard asks out loud.

Shepard slowly manages to get over his shock and fear enough to stand on his feet.

"A virus with the memories and soul of Commander Shepard, though you technically don't have a heart anymore. The virus is called Blacklight. A Bio engineered weapon made over 200 years ago. I was the last Blacklight "Evolved" until I brought you back from the dead, but at a great cost of your self-identity. Let me just give you this comforting thought, you may no longer be human, but you are still Shepard."

Shepard did not respond, but just solemnly looking at his hands and body. Shepard knew that he was more than likely vital in defeating the reapers, even though he considers himself just a soldier, but that does not mean that he would be happy about being brought back this way.

"I know that this will be a bitch to get used to, but it is not all bad Shepard. There are significant combat and survival advantages to this, though that may not be what is important to you."

"How would you know something like that?" Shepard asked in a monotone voice.

"Because I was a soldier once myself Shepard: a very long time ago, at least to humans."

Shepard just looks at him. While he could not see any signs of deceit on his face, Shepard would not trust a virus that acts human until he sees proof.

"I can tell that you are not going to trust me on word alone. That is very understandable and I don't blame you. I wanted to murder the "man" that forced this upon me myself, but I ended up killing him for a different reason. If you will let me, I can show you proof of what I speak: that I once was human and * places his hand over his chest* still am here."

"Where is this proof?" Shepard asks.

"Buried 6 feet under on Earth. You can be the piolet if you don't trust me."

"Just one last question before we go then. What is your name?" Shepard asks.

"James Heller."

Shepard and Heller boarded the shuttle in the next room and set course for Earth.

They docked in a port in Pennsylvania. They took a taxi to a remote mountain range. The journey through a small path carved though a forest of trees. The path ended in a cleared field with a wooden house that looked like it has seen better days. A few dozen yards away from the house were three headstones.

"It has been so long since I have been here. So many memories are here, both good and… bad."

"What's here that has the proof you have?" Shepard asked a little impatiently.

Heller led Shepard to the three headstones. The left headstone read "Amaya Heller: My only child and the only reason I live on". The right head stone read "Dana Mercer: A mother to Amaya when she most needed it." The middle headstone is what caught Shepard's attention.

"James Heller: The man, soldier, and monster that lost everything except his life."

"1976-…."

Heller and Shepard stood in front of the grave that was labeled with the name of the man that Shepard was standing next to. Heller could tell what Shepard was thinking and feeling based on his facial expressions.

"I am the very same James Heller that is written on that tombstone. This is not all the proof I wanted to show you. While there is no corpse in "my" grave, there are video recordings about my life as a man and as a monster."

"I assume that it is cd's and video tapes then?" Shepard asked.

"Yes; fortunately, I do believe that my electronics in the house still work, they would just need power."

"I think an Omni Tool would help with that, but mine was destroyed in the crash." Shepard added.

"I so happen to have picked up one yesterday."

Shepard and Heller dug up the grave and pulled out a very well preserved steel box that contained cd's and video tapes. The vids were a collection of surveillance and handheld.

They went into the worn down house and generated power to the necessary electronics with the Omni tool.

Shepard watch the life of James Heller as it was recorded.

" **Hurt" by Johnny Cash plays**

Shepard watched as Heller grew up and raised a small family of three. He watched as a husband held his dead lover in his arms in a ruined house. He witnessed Heller being transformed into the blacklight virus by a hooded "man". He saw a man driven by revenge, and a father's duty as he killed and tore his way through New York. Heller fought through a living hell to find his daughter. He was betrayed by almost everyone he trusted. Heller murdered and consumed the "man" that made him the monster that he is by not only by turning him into a virus, but also for stealing his daughter and planning to use her to transform the Earth into a nightmarish hell scape.

Shepard watched as Heller managed to keep going as he raised his daughter with Dana Mercer. They both grew older while Heller remained the same. Heller had to bury both Dana Mercer and his only daughter. Shepard saw tears streaming down Heller's face that no soulless virus could ever make.

" **Mad World" by Gary Jules plays.**

Tears roll down Heller's face against his will.

"Do you know what it's like Shepard? To have to bury the only daughter that you will ever have. To hold your wife's body in your arms that you know that you can't bury? To no longer be human while still having your original mind? To watch your family and friends rot away while you remain? To have any house you build be empty and fall while you remain and watch as everything you make and hold turn to dust? To watch the world move on while you stand still? I am more than just some virus/bio weapon Shepard….and that is why I will remember what I had for the smallest of times then lost for all eternity. I can't die the conventional way Shepard! And what would Amaya and Collette think of me if I committed suicide?... if I can even do that anymore."

While Shepard was not accustomed to doing this with a male, Shepard wanted to hug Heller. Shepard could not imagine what Heller is going through and did not know how he managed to stay sane for over 200 years.

"No I don't…..I can't. I'm… sorry."

 **Song ends**

Weeks later:

Heller revealed to Shepard that he had consumed Sovereign's biomass and can morph into a miniature Reaper to witch Shepard had mixed feelings about. Heller used his Reaper form to hack into billions of bank accounts and funnel tiny portions of credits from each into a multitude of banks owned by him without being noticed. He used this money to purchase a ship yard to be used for constructing a ship worthy of Heller and Shepard. Since Heller had greater knowledge about mass effect fields, element zero, and advanced technology thanks to Sovereign's knowledge; Heller was able to make significant improvements to the technical readouts on the ship in progress, which Shepard suggested to be based on the old Normandy.

This new Normandy would have Carbyne armor, multilayered improved cyclonic barriers, replications of Sovereign's main gun that the Turian's later dub "thanix cannons", increased fuel capacity and efficiency, Reaper based mass effect core/engine, The ability to manipulate behaviors and protocols of mass relays from a close range, high capacity probe bays, 5 different floors, improved heat absorption and distribution, the ability to make short, combat effective, FTL jumps thanks to improved ezzo manipulation tech and sturdier armor, and an onboard AI made from a VI and Reaper code supplemented by Heller.

During this time Heller also took Shepard to the barren wastes on Tuchanka to help him control and evolve his viral abilities. Heller set up exercises and tests for Shepard by having him fight and consume a vast variety and multitude of viral beasts.

It was two years later when the new Normandy was finally complete and Heller had trained Shepard in all the viral powers Heller wielded when he was on Earth. Everything was ready for them to take on the collectors and then the Reapers, everything except a crew.


End file.
